The Silent Flame
by Dark-Phantom-Rose
Summary: Katagarian Dragon, Iliarion Konstantinus angers the Fates who, knowing his hatred of humans and Arcadians, mate him to Carina Drake, a governess in 1817 England as punishment. Will Iliarion learn to love his human mate? R: M for Language & Adult Content.
1. Disclaimer & Author's Note

**Disclaimer**

I do not own any part of Sherrilyn Kenyon's fabulous Dark-Hunter world, or any of her characters. I'm just borrowing them for a while, and I promise to give them back! The only things I own are my original characters, and the idea for the story.

**Rating**

This story is Rated M, for strong language, violence, and adult situations. If any of that offends you please do not read this story.

**Author's Note**

Before I start my story I just want to clarify a few things:

Ilarion Konstantinus is not an original character, he is SK's and if you would like to see his picture and a review of his history please go to her Were-Hunter website and click on Katagaria (I have the website address on my profile). I have tried to stay as faithful to her profile of him as possible.

I intend for my story to be as true to the world that Sherrilyn Kenyon created as I can make it, but I apologize now for any errors that I make.

There will be adult situations in this story, but I intend to keep them tasteful and romantic, like in a good romance novel.

Please review! All constructive criticism is welcome! This is my first time writing fanfiction, so please NO flames!

**Were-Hunter Terms:**

**Filos –** Family or Pack

**Patria –** Name for clans of Were-Hunters of the same race and animal genus. The existing Were patria are: Balios (jaguars), Niphetos Pardalia (snow leopards), Drakos (dragons), Panthiras (panthers), Gerakian (hawks, falcons, eagles,), Pardalia (leopards), Helikias (cheetahs), Tigarian (tigers), Litarian (lions), Tsakalis (jackals), Lykos (wolves), and Ursulan (bears).

**Metriazo Collar –** A thin silver collar designed specifically to control a Were-Hunter's magical powers and to keep them from shifting forms. It is VERY painful, and will eventually kill the wearer. It can only be removed by magic or extreme force.

_**~ Special Thanks ~**_

To DazedInReality, I never would have gotten around to writing this without your help and encouragement! Thank You so much!

Now ... On with the story ~


	2. Chapter 1

~_Somewhere deep in the mountains of Medieval Norway~_

Ilarion Konstantinus sighed and shoved his long hair out of his eyes, he had been so confident that the spell would work! He came gracefully to his feet and stretched, his muscles cramped after sitting for so many hours. After finding the scrying spell in one of his ancient tomes, he had immediately thought of using it to discover who his mate would be. He had planned everything out meticulously, checked and rechecked everything. So what had he done wrong? He would go back over everything and try again tomorrow, one failure wouldn't deter him from his goal. After all it had taken him _years _to perfect his speech illusion, he thought, rubbing his scared throat.

He had been captured when he was a dragonet, after his parents were killed, and bound with a metriazo collar for four years. After his escape, he had discovered that the collar had damaged his throat so badly that he would never be able to speak. In his early years the scars had been quite horrific, and his inability to speak had angered and humiliated him. His captivity had instilled in him a fierce hatred of being stared at or whispered about, and that was exactly what his scars and lack of speech caused people to do. Determined to conquer his self-perceived weakness, he had spent years cultivating his magical powers, especially mind-speech and illusion. Eventually he was able to converse with anyone through mind-speech, and an illusion made it appear that he spoke. At first it had been difficult and tiring, but it had long since become as natural as breathing.

But gods he had hoped that for once something would work on the first try! And he was ashamed to admit that he had arrogantly not expected to fail. His desire for a mate must have seriously clouded his reasoning, or he would have been prepared to meet with disappointment on the first try. He was just so damn lonely, he'd never admit it to anyone but there it was. He was tired of being alone, and he felt so empty and cold inside that he was willing to risk displeasing the Fates to find his mate. Damn, he must be getting senile or something, he was thinking like a romantic fool!

Disgusted with himself, he turned and walked out of the smaller cave in the back of his lair, where he kept all his human possessions, and into the large outer cavern. He immediately shifted to his base form, a dragon, and walked to the mouth of the cave. Just as he was about to walk out onto the ledge, he heard a slight noise behind him and whipped around. He saw three women dressed all in white glaring at him, and immediately knew who they were. The Fates, cold hearted bitches from hell. Damn it.

Ilarion changed back to human form, flashing on clothes as he did so. _**"HOW DARE YOU!"**_ Atropos shrieked at him. "It didn't work, so you can all relax" he said calmly. Well that went over well, he thought, they all looked even more furious than before, and he was fairly certain Atropos was going to burst a blood vessel. "You insolent son of a bitch," Clotho spat venomously, "you will learn that it is not wise to taunt us!" Composing herself with a visible effort, Lachesis laid a calming hand on each of her sisters, and stepping forward said icily, "I believe that the most fitting punishment for you, is to tell you what you seem so eager to discover."

A chill went down Ilarion's spine, he didn't like the sound of this. Smiling with obvious satisfaction Lachesis continued, "Because of your insolence and monumental hubris in trying to ignore Fate, and take matters into your own hands, and knowing your hatred of humans and Arcadians. We decree you shall be mated to a human, and all your offspring shall be Arcadian. Not that it's likely you will have any, since what human woman could be induced to mate with an animal?" By the end of her speech all three of them were smiling cruelly at Ilarion, who had paled in horror during this speech.

NO ... FUCKING ... WAY! They could NOT do this! "That's not possible," he stated, "Katagaria can't mate with humans!" Atropos, still smiling, said, "It is certainly unusual but nothing is _impossible_, you should certainly know that." The three sisters smiled at each other, joined hands and then laughing maliciously they disappeared. Ilarion just stared at the spot were they had been, completely stunned. This was NOT happening to him. He'd wake up soon, it was just a nightmare. But no, not even in his worst nightmare would he think of something like this! He stormed around the cave, cursing the Fates with every epithet, and oath he knew. It took quite awhile because he knew a lot of them, and when he had gone through all the ones he knew, he made up some more. Finally running out of creative ideas, he took a few deep breaths and told himself to calm down and think this through.

He realized he was doing just what those bitches wanted, he was letting his anger control him and not thinking rationally. Well they were going to be disappointed! Sitting down on a pile of furs, he took a firm hold on his temper, and thought about his options. He could ignore this whole thing, and go on with his life. But did he really want to continue living like this? And considering how pissed the Fates were at him, this was probably his only shot at having a family. As much as he disliked the idea of a human mate, and he seriously doubted if said human would ever accept him, he would try to find

her and see if there was even the remotest possibility of making it work. But first things first, how to find her?

He obviously couldn't scry for her, and he didn't have her scent so he couldn't track her. Then it hit him, Acheron! The ex-leader of the Dark-Hunters seemed to know just about everything about everyone, so it was just possible that he might know who/and, or/where this human might be. And Acheron's hatred for the Fates was well known, so he might welcome the chance to annoy them. Ilarion sighed, he hated having to ask anyone, **especially** a Dark-Hunter, for anything but he couldn't think of any other options.

_~New Orleans, Present Day~_

Acheron Parthenopaeus sat on a park bench, relaxing and watching the people of New Orleans bustle along, giving him a wide berth of course. He was an intimidating sight and possessed an aura of danger and menace that made mortals and immortals alike, distinctly uneasy. Absurdly tall and sinfully handsome, dressed in goth clothes, with long hair streaked black and red (for the moment), and swirling silver eyes which he constantly disguised with dark sunshades. He watched with interest as a tall male, instead of keeping a safe distance from him, walked in a purposeful fashion right towards him. Ash smiled with satisfaction, he knew why the Katagaria dragon was here of course, and he was going to enjoy helping him thwart the Fates immensely.

Stopping directly in front of Ash, Ilarion decided to plunge right in before he could change his mind. "I seriously pissed of the Fates, and to punish me they have decreed that I will be mated to a human." he said in a rush. "And considering how they hold a grudge, I know it's unlikely that they will exert themselves to make sure I meet my mate." Ash grinned, and said "Yeah, it would probably be a couple thousand years if you wait for them to arrange the "fateful" meeting for you." Ilarion nodded in agreement, "Exactly, I realized that immediately and began trying to think of a way to find my mate on my own." A flash of annoyance flickered across his face as he continued, "Well, I haven't been able to figure out how to find her, so I've come to ask for your help." Ilarion looked like the words had left a bad taste in his mouth, but Ash didn't take offense, he knew how much it must have burned him to ask for help.

Just then they both became aware of a tall, slender young woman walking in their direction, she paused hesitantly when she saw Ilarion. Ash smiled and stood, holding a hand out to his wife. Walking quickly towards him, Tory smiled back, "Sorry if I'm interrupting," she apologized, "I can go check out that book store I saw on my way back if you want." Ash shook his head, "No, actually Tory I'd like you to meet Ilarion," he turned back to Ilarion and said, "dragon, my wife Tory." Ilarion was pleased at being addressed by his animal self, a mark of respect among Were-Hunters, and very interested to meet the woman who was brave enough to marry Acheron. Tory smiled and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you," Ilarion looked at Ash out of the corner of his eye before taking the proffered hand, he new that newly mated males could be fiercely territorial, and even though Ash wasn't a Were-Hunter he figured the same probably went for males of all species. The only thing he detected in Ash's face was amusement when he caught the sidelong look aimed at him, so Ilarion shook her hand and smiled slightly in return, "I am honored to meet the mate of Acheron," he said formally.

Ash laughed, "He doesn't get out much, Tory," he told his wife, who had looked slightly bemused by the formality. Ilarion was a little annoyed, he had been trying to be polite which wasn't something that came easily to him, but he refrained from commenting on their lack of appreciation for his efforts, since Ash was explaining his problem to Tory. By the time she had been fully apprised of the situation Tory was looking quite furious, "Those bitches just never quit trying to ruin peoples lives do they?" She looked up at Ash, her brown eyes flashing with temper, "Do they live off the pain and suffering they cause, or do they just like to make people miserable?" she asked. Before Ash could answer her, she whirled to face Ilarion and said fiercely, "Don't you dare give them the satisfaction of adding you to their list of victories!" Ash reached out and pulled her to him, "That's why he's here Sota," he said soothingly, "you don't have to lecture him." Slightly mollified, she relaxed against him, and he smiled down at her, feeling a rush of love for her flood his soul, his arms tightening around her involuntarily.

Ilarion felt a pang of envy as he watched them, they obviously loved one another deeply, and seeing it made him ache with longing. Oh yeah, he was definitely becoming a romantic fool, he thought disgustedly. Turning his attention back to Ilarion, Ash looked at him and said seriously, "This is not going to be easy, you understand that right?" When Ilarion only nodded, Ash continued, "Well you definitely have your work cut out for you, your mate is a governess in 1817 England." Ash felt a flash of unholy amusement when he saw the dismay written plainly on Ilarion's face. Not giving him a chance to respond Ash said quickly, "She will be the first person you see when I send you to her time. Oh, and you don't owe me anything for this, it is always a pleasure to be able to screw over the Fates plans!" With those parting words, Acheron flashed Ilarion out of New Orleans and back through time to Regency England.

Tory turned in Ash's arms so she could look up at him, "You could have given him a chance to catch his breath before you tossed him down the rabbit hole." she said in a slightly reproving tone. Ash grinned and said, "If I had he would have just wasted a lot of time arguing with me." She shook her head at him, "You are so bad sometimes!" she said still reproachfully, but couldn't repress a smile when she saw the look of self-satisfaction on her husbands face. He arched a brow and dropped his hands to cup her lush derriere suggestively, "Want to go home and see just how bad I can be?" he asked provocatively. Blushing slightly, Tory glanced up at him under her lashes and slowly licked her bottom lip. She heard him groan, felt him tighten against her, and the next thing she new they were in their bedroom at home in Katoteros.


End file.
